1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of computer networking. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for maintaining a network connection while a computer moves between network interface connection points.
2. The Relevant Technology
Computer and data communications networks continue to proliferate due to declining costs, increasing performance of computer and networking equipment, and increasing demand for communication bandwidth. Communications networks—including wide are networks (“WANs”) and local area networks (“LANs”)—allow increased productivity and utilization of distributed computers or stations through the sharing of resources, the transfer of voice and data, and the processing of voice, data and related information at the most efficient locations. Moreover, as organizations have recognized the economic benefits of using communications networks, network applications such as electronic mail, voice and data transfer, host access, and shared and distributed databases are increasingly used as a means to increase user productivity. This increased demand, together with the growing number of distributed computing resources, has resulted in a rapid expansion of the number of installed networks.
As the demand for networks has grown, network technology has grown to include many different physical configurations. Examples include Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (“FDDI”), Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand networks. These and the many other types of networks that have been developed typically utilize different cabling systems, different bandwidths and typically transmit data at different speeds. In addition, each of the different network types have different sets of standards, referred to as protocols, which set forth the rules for accessing the network and for communicating among the resources on the network. Historically, a majority of installed networks utilize a wire-based communications medium. That is, the interconnections between computers and peripherals are accomplished with elaborate wire and cable-based connection systems. Depending on the size and type of network involved, the cost, installation, maintenance and upgrading of such networks is quite complex and requires sophisticated skills. Moreover, even the physical space needed for today's wire-based network systems can be prohibitive.
One solution to some of the drawbacks of wire-based connections is the use of short range wireless communication schemes to interconnect computers and computer peripherals within a network. The use of wireless communications provides a number of advantages, including the elimination of complex, expensive, and inconvenient wire and cable-based connections. A number of wireless communications standards have been developed for such applications; two popular examples are known as IEEE 802.11 and “Bluetooth.” Both standards use low power radio frequencies to allow communication between various devices such as mobile phones, laptop and desktop computers, printers, modems, PDAs, and the like.
Bluetooth technology was originally envisioned for the purpose of replacing cabling and other hard-wired connection schemes used to connect auxiliary devices to a desktop or laptop computer. However, in addition to providing those types of capabilities, Bluetooth has further evolved into a method of sending both data and voice signals between a wide range of devices. For example, a Bluetooth-enabled PDA could be configured to automatically connect to a Bluetooth-enabled communications link to an established network within a building, therefore gaining wireless access to computing resources such as printers, Internet portals, etc.
Similarly, 802.11 transceivers provide the ability to create a wireless connection between a computer-device and other 802.11 enabled devices, such as a wireless hub connected to an existing local area network. In this environment, an 802.11 equipped device can exist as a node on a local area network, yet does not require a physical connection to the network. Like Bluetooth, aside from the advantages relating to the elimination of wires and cabling, this wireless attachment scheme allows a user—especially a user of a mobile computing device—to maintain a network connection even while physically moving, for example between offices.
Thus, such wireless schemes provide the ability to connect any one of a number of computing devices to a standard wire-based LAN that would normally require some form of wired connection, such as an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) and cable. Consequently, as this wireless technology becomes more prevalent, it has become increasingly important to seamlessly integrate wireless communication devices with traditional wired-based networks. However, there have been a number of problems in integrating wireless networking within existing wire-based networks.
One problem relates to difficulties associated with switching a computer's configuration between a wire-based, and a wireless-based network. As is well known, computers generally need to be reconfigured when connection to a new peripheral device, such as a network access device. In addition, the computing device often needs to undergo a “reboot” process to complete a reconfiguration to allow it to detect new connections or a major change in the system hardware. Also, when a user wishes to switch network interfaces between different network technologies, it is usually necessary to execute a separate software application that is compatible with the new network environment, and then reconnect with the new network interface device. For example, if a computer is directly connected to the Internet over an wire-based Ethernet connection and then the user wishes to reconnect over a dial up connection, the user must physically disconnect the old connection and then launch an application that allows for a dial up connection, and possibly reconfigure the computing device (including a possible re-boot) so as to permit communication via the dial up connection). Obviously, such steps are time consuming and require a certain level of knowledge and expertise on the user's part. The need for this sort of configuration process has become increasingly common with the continued proliferation of portable computing devices such as laptops, PDAs, cell phones, and the like. As a user moves from one network environment to another, there is often the need to “reconfigure” the computing device to function within the new environment.
Therefore, there is a need for an ability to allow a computing device to seamlessly switch between network technologies. For example, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a portable computing device with the ability to seamlessly and transparently interface between a wire-based network connection (such as Ethernet via an Ethernet NIC connector) and a wireless connection (such as Ethernet via an 802.11 wireless connection). Preferably, such a solution would be capable of automatically reconfiguring the necessary profiles such that the user and the high level applications of the system do not need to be aware of the network interface switch.